There is an awful lot of begatting in the Bible. Begatting is kind of the Biblical name for producing children. Having said this, look at this list of names and you’d probably not name your children many of these… I mean Isaac and Jacob are fine but Esrom? Aminadab? Salathiel?
Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Why bother with all this detail? Because that’s who Jesus was – a product of this family and a child of his time. The first Christians were worried they’d gone all woolly and non-conformist in their faith – till they checked out Jesus’s family album. He had a direct line back to Abraham and Adam and all those other vital people of his history. A bit like being related to Oliver Cromwell, Winston Churchill, Boudicca and Florence Nightingale. Well, there may well be someone out there… Might be worth starting a Facebook campaign…
Bonus question: If Adam and Eve were the first people – who did their son Cain marry?
a/ his sister.
b/ his invisible friend.
c/ his other sister.
d/ his next door neighbour.
e/ some girl in the land of Nod.
f/ some girl he met on a road trip.
Answer: e/ and f/ he ended up on the first road trip wandering in the land of wandering. Or Nod as it’s called. There he got married and built his own city, even though he wasn’t supposed to settle down.
Regarding the girl – check out Genesis chapter one and verse 27 – so God created people in his own image. People in general you might say. Including perhaps ‘the mum and dad of some girl in Nod.’ And then in chapter two God specifically makes Adam and Eve to look after Eden and they have little Adam, otherwise known as Cain. Bingo! Only a theory but I like it.
Another theory explains why Cain built his city. When our lives take an unexpected turn and we feel vulnerable, we can either grow and change or build walls around ourselves to protect us. Seems like Cain decided to build a whole city full of walls.
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